The Music of Zelda's Best Ending

Big props to the developers. The ending wasn't "We stopped Ganondorf" the ending was "Zelda is safe now"

Dude, almost all of the music in this game had me tearing up. From the haunting theme of the abandoned Rito village, to the reveal of what happened to Zelda.

I also love in the final skydiving section the judicious use of single hand claps - a sound you can only produce by two hands connecting with each other. It’s a brilliant choice of instrumentation.

The best part for me was descending into the Gloom Lair and the music slowly getting more intense... until you finally drop down the massive hollow and find Zelda's torch from the start of the game.

FINALLY someone is talking about this. As a film and game composer, I think it was a genius way to program the music that maximizes the impact of the ending. It ties together both games perfectly and creates such an emotional and powerful moment for every player no matter how they play. They do this with the intro too and a few other sequences throughout the game. Nintendo knows how to do music!

You know the music is good when the analysis makes you tear up

a few things to add: - the choir falling out of tune as ganondorf’s boss subtitle is revealed - the slow burn of phase 1 eventually building to those chaotic, disjointed string/choir back and forths - the botw main theme being quoted in phase 2a (when the sages arrive) - the calamity ganon theme being quoted verbatim in phase 2b - the descending 3rd into ascending 5th motif (which appears all over the rest of the game) coming straight from the very end of botw - the entirety of gloom's approach!!!

I love how they use Calamity Ganon's theme for the last portion of the Ganondorf fight. That theme, which was basically Ganon's theme in BotW, is nowhere to be found in TotK until that point. I thought they had just forgotten about it, which made me sad as I thought it was a great theme, until they suddenly blast it in your face at the peak of the fight to remind you (and especially Link) that this is the man responsible for the destruction of Hyrule 100 years before and basically everything that happened in BotW.

I would argue that you omitted (perhaps for brevity) the best/worst part of the final boss: The descent. all the way from Gloom's Approach, is so incredibly menacing.

It is impossible to listen to this music and not well up. It’s ‘lump in your throat’ good. What a great ending to a great game.

I will absolutely cherish Tears of the Kingdom and its beyond ethereal finale forever. I have never felt so utterly captivated by any medium before. Everything from the descent into the deepest parts of the Depths, the cooperative fights with your allies, the absolutely brilliant sword duel with Ganondorf, the mind-blowingly high-production and sheer grandiose of the dragon phase, and the emotional climax with catching Zelda. Seriously this game was crafted by masters of the gaming craft and offers an experience unlike any other.

final battle music that uses references to past songs are the best. its like your taking all your experience, memories, and friendships to stop the ultimate obstacle.

Hearing zeldas lullaby come through as your falling after zelda makes me tear up everytime. So much emotion was packed into the music in this game, especially the ending

This ending music? Masterpiece. Your analysis of the ending music? Masterpiece. Masterpieces all around. Phenomenal job. I'm not crying, you're crying, shut up.

This ending was so fucking incredible. You've broken down exactly how it was done through the music. Well done. And why does Dragondorf explode? BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME THAT'S WHY. That was the dopest explosion I've ever seen in a game. DON'T DIMINISH THAT

Fantastic analysis! 18:26 Another (maybe obvious) detail is how in the Main Theme part of the Final Dive, the erhu, which has been symbolically used for dragons throughout, is no longer included now that Zelda has been turned back.

That catch sequence, especially when the sun comes into view as Link reaches out for Zelda... pure art.

I straight up gave Tears of the Kingdom a standing ovation in my living room after the ending, and all the music underscoring the whole ending sequence is a huge part of why I did. I can’t really think of many other games that gave me chills by the end like TOTK did - and your analysis goes a long way to helping me appreciate why!

The entire final hour of the game is a musical peak for the series. It's unbelievable how they managed it

I am so glad you covered this. I could not stop listening to the music during the last catch sequence. Zelda's Lullaby soaring in and then the main theme crying out triumphantly... it felt like the climax of not just Tears of the Kingdom, but all of Zelda.